Two More Catholic LGBTQ+ Groups Add Praise to the Study Group 9 Report

Two more Catholic LGBTQ+ groups have responded very positively to the report from the Synod on Synodality’s Study Group 9, which dealt with gay and lesbian ministry.  The report has been hailed by many for, among other things, being the first Vatican document that included any LGBTQ+ voices, which appeared in the form of extensive personal testimonies from two gay Catholic men. (For New Ways Ministry’s respone to the report, click here. For the response of other Catholic LGBTQ+ leaders, click here.  For excerpts from the report, click here. For a theologian’s response to the report, click here.)

LGBT+ Catholics Westminster, the pastoral ministry group of the Diocese of Westminster (London, UK) said the report “has far exceeded our expectations with clear evidence that thesubmissions we, and others in European Roman Catholic LGBT+ networks made, have hit a mark.”  Joe Stanley, acting chairperson of this UK group said the report “marks a firm, clear and radical restatement of the principles of the Second Vatican Council.”

Even though the report is not a formal Vatican doctrinal statement, Martin Pendergast, communications director of LGBT+ Catholics Westminster said it is significant because it is “surprisingly honest in recognising what it calls ‘the inadequacy of our current categories and operational paradigms.

Applauding the fact that the study group changed the labeling of their assigned topics  from “controversial issues” to “emerging issues,” the statement from this LGBT+ ministry group saw this as a substantial change because it signaled a “move away from a ‘problem-solving’ approach towards a more relational dialogue as the Church tries to journey together with all its people. We welcome its affirmation that the shift in terminology “is not merely superficial, but expresses a proposal for a reformulation linked to a paradigm shift.’ ”

The statement also praised the reports “frankness” as evidenced by “its acknowledgment of problems prompted by the approach of the group, Courage,” a Catholic ministry association which the report said has been known to be “pushing for ‘reparative therapy’” resulting in “‘having the effect of separating faith and sexuality rather than integrating them.”

The other Catholic LGBTQ+ group to respond to the report this week was the Global Network of Rainbow Catholics (GNRC), a world-wide alliance of Catholic LGBTQ+ groups and individuals. In a statement from the group’s board of directors expressed joy at the report’s publication noting, “For the first time in the history of the Church we, the LGBTIQ+ community, are invited to place our experience in the center of our relationship to Jesus and the Church he has called into being, instead of having to conform to a heterosexual norm that we are not.”

The statement said the report “calls us to be present in our communities as the persons that we are, with our affections, our sexual attractions, our hopes and our dreams, and to walk with and contribute to the growth of our communities as we are.”

The network directors welcomed the fact that gay voices were included in the report and also praised “the position of the Study Group to ‘conversion therapies,” which recognizes “the harm and the damage this does to individuals and families.”

GNRC also noted that while the report “opens a door for us, it’s we who have to walk the arduous road towards full integration in our Church communities. We are aware that in many countries our LGBTIQ+ brothers and sisters cannot walk this road without danger, sometimes for their life.”

The statement concluded with a positive call to action:

“And we call on our Church’s leaders, and all members of our Church, to engage in the kind of open dialogue that is needed for deep encounter. That is the only way the goals of this report, and indeed the Synodal process, to be achieved.”

–Francis DeBernardo, New Ways Ministry, May 15, 2026